


Shall We Skate

by ContentWithDiscontent



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: (literally), Antics at Detroit, Anxiety, Best Friends, Fluff, Gen, The Real Villain Is Yuuri's Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 11:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18234386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ContentWithDiscontent/pseuds/ContentWithDiscontent
Summary: In which Phichit and Yuuri have fun at the rink, an anxiety downwards spiral is triggered, and Phichit uses fuzz therapy to help Yuuri snap out of it





	Shall We Skate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [onewithturtles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/onewithturtles/gifts), [DasWarSchonKaputt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DasWarSchonKaputt/gifts).



This wasn’t the first time that Phichit had persuaded him to do this; behind Ciao Ciao’s back, while he was occupied with another skater, he’d dragged Yuuri into an enactment of _Shall We Skate_. This was, however, the first time he’d livestreamed it.

With a wink and a finger to his lips for the camera, the young Thai skater set it up just in front of the little corner of the rink he and Yuuri were hiding in while supposedly working on some drills to improve their precision. He’d begged their coach to let them play some music and, of course, ‘ _Shall We Skate’_ was near the top of the playlist. There were one or two Top 40 songs thrown in first to let Ciao Ciao fall into a sense of false security that they were indeed following orders, but then in came the opening words that were all too familiar to anyone acquainted with Phichit.

Phichit quickly took the role of the skater, making Yuuri take his turn as the king tentatively taking his first steps on the ice. There was an unrepentant smile on his face at the little pouty scowl his friend gave him – in between anxious glances over at Celestino where he was berating another skater across the rink.

“ _Paper fan, royal outfit, Your Majesty!”_ Phichit mouthed along with the words with a dramatic flourish, still grinning.

Yuuri rolled his eyes fondly and went with it. He knew the choreography almost as well as his friend, by now. Even if he did have to do his own take on Bambi on Ice, hand in hand with Phichit.

If it weren’t for the fact that they took it in turns, a savage little part of him might be tempted to play the ‘oops! Clumsy me, putting you off balance! Are you okay down there?’ routine a little earlier than the script of ‘ _The King and the Skater’_ called for.

“ _Yes! You can do it!-“_

He was cut off from his own overacting by Yuuri going stiff, looking over his shoulder like a deer in the headlights, their skates tangling, and the two of them crashing to the ground.

The reason why became immediately apparent.

Incensed Celestino approaching, a scolding already ringing through the air.

 _Worth it_.

He’d got too enthusiastic and called attention to them, figures. Oh well, even if they were being told off for it, the goofing around was a good way to inject a little enforced fun into Yuuri’s life.

“ _-o you think you are **doing?!** ”_

Phichit tuned out and nodded and said platitudes in what felt like appropriate moments. The second his coach turned away, he quickly skated over to end the stream, showing no regrets at all.

Yuuri, on the other hand, plainly had _all the regrets_.

Luckily, they were near the end of the session anyway; he wouldn’t be doing anything that getting caught up in his head would lead to injury with. And he was definitely getting caught up in his own head.

 _Coach Cialdini is angry with me_.

He was only ever ‘Coach Cialdini’ when Yuuri felt like he was in trouble.

_I shouldn’t have been messing around. I should be working all the time to get better. I can’t afford to waste time. I’m going to lose points on my skates because of this. He won’t want to coach me, I’m wasting his time by messing around like this and making him disappointed in me I should have known better he’s going to make me find another coach and I’m going to lose my tuition help here and get into so much debt and make things worse for my family and I’m going to lose my career and let down my family and Hasestu and then they’re gonna be disappointed and I’ll have to see that forever and because I performed badly and shamed my country all of Japan is going to hate me I should have known better-_

Phichit could recognise the signs of a Yuuri Katsuki Spiral anywhere. He’d witnessed enough of them.

Luckily, it wasn’t far to their place, because he could see that Yuuri’s anxious mind had found a shiny, shiny thought, latched onto it like a vengeful octopus, and started digging.

Yep, it was Emergency Fluff Therapy time.

He barrelled Yuuri inside and quickly dragged him into his room, dragging the covers off his bed and turning one corner into a cosy little spot.

The Spiral hadn’t abated, and it had had plenty of time to shake him, from the looks of things.

“ _No_ , Yuuri, the world won’t end because you’re having a break. Sit.”

He was well-versed in cutting through the Anxiety Bullshit. Every nonsense thing that came out of Yuuri’s mouth was cut off with something ruthlessly practical in response.

At least this time, it wasn’t so bad that he was crying.

Although, on the other hand… those tears _were_ a good outlet for the tangled mess in his head. It did tend to pass faster after he’d done some crying…

No, nope, no, no, no.

He wasn’t going to make his best friend cry. Even if it was for his own good and would make everything _so much easier._

“Stay there. Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” he promised, before darting off first to Yuuri’s room, and then to their tiny shared kitchen.

It was time to break out the _good_ tea. The emergency tea.

Yuuri had brought the blend from home, and he had broken it out when his homesickness was at its strongest, especially when time zones or his own insecurities hadn’t let him call home. It was precious, and the sweet grassy scent helped him settle and brought him down. It was produced not far from his home town, and every part of this blend was intimately familiar.

Phichit boiled the kettle and made the tea exactly as Yuuri had taught him. Bitter, singed leaves were not what he was after.

“Hands.” He set the cup cradled between Yuuri’s hands. “Now drink.”

This was… kind of his fault. He had encouraged Yuuri to goof around, even after seeing that Ciao Ciao wasn’t in the best of moods. And he was the one who’d got too carried away and got them noticed.

“Whatever your head is telling you, it’s not true.”

He wasn’t going to pry into that horribly tangled web of worry. There were too many strings that, once pulled, might unravel everything. He wasn’t a therapist, and he couldn’t act like one. But he could distract him, right?

“I know you, Yuuri. You’ve latched onto one little thing and blown it all the way up to be bigger than that Canadian skater’s head. What’s his name again? GeeGee? Leeroy?”

Yuuri sipped at the tea and looked down into the cup.

_His mum was going to be so disappointed in him…_

Comfort food was out of the question – even if it made Yuuri feel better in the moment, it would be just one more thing for his relentless mind to pick up on and niggle away at later on. But he could see the tea was working to, if not completely _stop_ that thorny downwards spiral, then at least slow it a little.

Phichit sat near him, near but not crowding, and kept chattering away, filling the silence and waiting for Yuuri to finish his tea. Again, he instructed him not to move as he took the cup away and put it in with his… little collection… of various crockery… of various ages… which had been… waiting. For a while. And growing… and he really should take it out to the kitchen to clean it, but – this wasn’t the moment.

It was fuzz therapy time.

The first Yuuri knew of it was a little weight plopping down on top of his head. With _claws_. It snuffled through his hair and then a second joined it, on his shoulder. He held out his hands for the third and dipped his head to nuzzle his nose against the soft fluff, moving slowly enough for the one on his head not to fall.

The little fluffball booped him back.

The strains of classical music began to fill the room and if Yuuri had been in more of a typical state of mind, he would have lifted his head to give Phichit a stern Look for what felt like a mild callout; this was a playlist of classical pieces that Viktor Nikiforov, his celebrity heartthrob, had skated to.

Oh, how he regretted letting Phichit see those pictures of his childhood room, papered from wall to floor with posters.

But… picturing in his mind’s eye his idol, floating gracefully with his long hair sweeping behind him, well… that helped too.

Before he knew it, there was a bowl of nibbles in front of him – for the hamsters. Small enough that he’d be able to feel them nibbling on it as he held each one. Phichit rescued the one from his head and cupped the fuzz in his hands.

Later on, as the night drew in, he lit some soft vanilla-scented candles. Neither of them brought up what kinds of thoughts had occurred to Yuuri while he was spiralling. They spent the rest of the day doing fuzz therapy and using little things dotted around the room to make little courses to lead the hamsters around. Yuuri was smiling, in the end. Things were peaceful.

It would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Later on, Phichit and Viktor definitely swap notes on how to deal with the Katsuki Downwards Spiral and Phichit laughs at how useless he is before giving him some tips.  
> The anxiety downwards spiral is a vicious thing that gets increasingly out of touch with reality, and having a friend who can cut through that bullshit - in any way - is invaluable, and they're someone to be treasured.


End file.
